


Betrayal

by rinthegreat



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Betrayal, Blood, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mild Dissociation, Violence, not graphic imo though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-16 20:23:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11260302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinthegreat/pseuds/rinthegreat
Summary: He’d been so gentle – as if he were afraid one wrong move would break Lance.Lance can’t see any of that gentleness now.--------Kuro Week 2017 Day 4: Betrayal





	Betrayal

**Author's Note:**

> I can't say I'm happy with this, but I've been sitting on it for a while and I wanted to post something for this week. Un-betaed so all faults are my own.
> 
> Also this is loosely based on [theprojectava](https://theprojectava.tumblr.com/)'s world on tumblr. Her art and story is about a billion times better than this, but hey. #itried

When they’d saved Shiro from the Galra that second time, he’d come back with a slightly shorter identical twin sporting yellow eyes.  Allura had almost killed him on sight.  But Shiro had vouched for him, promised that he wouldn’t hurt anyone.  Shiro was still their leader, even after going missing for 3 months, so the clone had stayed.

He’d decided to go by Kuro, rather than ‘Shiro’s clone’, and the irony of it wasn’t lost on anyone.  But despite his name, Kuro wasn’t an evil version of Shiro.  The opposite actually: he laughed and joked around with the team, more relaxed around them than Shiro himself.

And he actually found Lance’s jokes funny.

The two of them had become fast friends, wandering around the castle together, annoying everyone else.  Kuro was just as big of a flirt as Lance, though he included the paladins in his flirtations, much to Shiro’s dismay.  And, just like Lance, he was constantly shot down.  It gave them something to bond over.

It wasn’t long before their bonding transcended flirting, jokes, and rejections.  Soon Lance was introducing him to Earth movies, books, music, anything he thought might interest Kuro.  While Hunk worked on projects with Pidge and Keith did his extra training with Shiro, Lance and Kuro had movie marathons, complete with competitions involving tossing popcorn into each other’s mouths.

“Lance,” Kuro whispered one night.  The ship was mostly quiet, the other paladins long gone to bed.  They’d been watching a movie, but now the screen was black and Lance had been too comfortable to move out from under Kuro’s arm.

“Hmm?”

“Can I kiss you?”

He’d been so gentle – as if he were afraid one wrong move would break Lance.  His claw hadn’t dug into Lance’s skin at all, the pressure his cheek feather light.  Their lips had barely brushed together before they both backed away, blushing furiously.  For all his bravado, Lance hardly knew what to do when someone – especially someone he actually liked – returned his affections.  So they’d sat there the rest of the movie, ignoring the screen in favor of staring at each other’s lips.

Lance can’t see any of that gentleness now.

“Put him down!”  Keith screams for the second time, now.  Kuro’s claw is wrapped around Shiro’s throat, holding the unconscious black paladin a foot off the ground, while his other hand effortlessly keeps Keith at arm’s reach.  The rest of the paladins, even Allura and Coran, have already been disposed of.  They’re lying in various spaces on the floor, unconscious or worse.  Lance doesn’t want to think about it.

He’s the only one who isn’t physically restrained, but he can’t move regardless.

Kuro’s hand squeezes visibly around Shiro before he tosses him across the room as if he weighs nothing, turning his full attention on Keith.  Keith curses, activating his Bayard so he now has a sword in each hand.  Lance knows it’s not enough, but he can’t tell Keith that.  He can’t find his voice at all.

Both the swords go flying across the room

It’s like a bad dream come to life before his eyes.  Kuro’s claw draws red from Keith’s chest, staining the paladin’s clothes with the color of his lion.  Keith gives Lance one last look, horrified, before collapsing like the rest of them.

But then…Kuro’s eyes meet his own.

Lance’s throat goes dry when the clone approaches.  He’s still frozen, Bayard hanging uselessly at his side, feet unable to move.  He just stares until Kuro stops, so close their chests are nearly touching.

This is how he dies:

Kuro smacks Lance’s worthless Bayard across the room.  It skitters across the floor, rebounding off the wall with a clang.  He steps right up against Lance till they’re practically chest to chest and raises his claw.

Lance closes his eyes.

A heartbeat then:

Kuro lets out a strangled cry. 

His eyes snap open in time to see the clone fall, a panting Allura standing there in his place.  She’s holding her staff in her left arm, her right at a strange angle, swaying as the clone lays still on the floor.

“You…killed him…”  Lance breathes.

Coran is there in a second, catching Allura as she slumps.  “He’s just unconscious,” Allura promises him weakly.

“We need to get him in a pod so we can run some tests,” Coran chirps, sounding cheerful despite the lump forming above his eye.

Groaning from around the room reminds Lance that all of his teammates had been injured in some way or another while he just stood there like an idiot.  While he still stands here like an idiot.

“What happened?”  Hunk slurs, eyes unfocused.  Pidge is clutching their ankle, face twisted in pain.

“Where’s Kuro?”  Keith demands, standing up only to immediately fall back over.  His chest is still painted red.

Their voices are all noise, a cacophony of meaningless sound, and still Lance just stands there.  The rest of the team goes to Shiro, concerned that he hasn’t moved, and still Lance stays where he is.

His eyes remain locked on Kuro so long that the lines on the floor fade from his vision.  Lance stands there until he loses track of himself.  One moment he’s there, seeing Kuro lying unconscious on the floor, and the next he blinks and he’s in the common room, seated on the couch with a blanket around his shoulders.

The sudden change is so jarring, Lance twitches, knocking the blanket off his body and spilling the mug of tea he hadn’t even known he’d been holding.

“Ow, shit.”

A metal hand is there, achingly familiar and yet too different, carefully taking the cup from Lance’s hand and setting it aside.  He looks up, meeting Shiro’s concerned gaze.  “Lance.  Welcome back.”

The guilt hits him so strong he almost retches.  “Shiro…How…?”

“Kuro’s safe.  Coran took him to the healing pods to run some tests.”

“Oh.”  Lance tugs the blanket back over his shoulders.  “Is he…?”

Shiro sighs, and only then can Lance see the lines of exhaustion on his features.  How long had Shiro been sitting there with him, waiting for Lance to come back to himself?  “Coran said it looks like he had some sort of trigger, some kind of programming built into him to snap and kill us at any moment.  That its existence might be why it had been so easy for him to escape in the first place.”

“Oh,” Lance repeats.

“He and Pidge and Hunk are all working on finding a way to get rid of it.  We’re not giving up on him so easily.”

His conscience twinges at the reminder of his teammates, his mind helpfully replays the memories of all their attacks.  Perfectly remembered in high definition with full surround sound.

“Hey.”  Shiro shakes his leg, bringing him back to the present.  “You ok?”

“I…”  It comes out in a rasp, barely heard over the heartbeat pounding in his ears.  Lance clears his throat and tries again.  “I didn’t do anything.”

He expects Shiro to get angry.  To lecture him about how he needs to put his teammates over a budding relationship.  He expects all sorts of things to add to the condemnations in his own mind.

What he doesn’t expect is the immediate softening of their leader’s face, the gentle hand he rests on Lance’s knee.  The words he says next.  “Lance, there’s nothing wrong with being unable to confront the person you care about.”

“But I should’ve been able to do something!  I should’ve –“  Lance cuts himself off with a sob as he’s dragged into Shiro’s chest.

Shiro pats his back gently as he cries, not saying anything, and just letting Lance get it out.  When he starts to calm down, Shiro finally speaks again.  “If that had been Keith, I don’t think I would’ve been able to do anything.  I’d close my eyes and let him destroy me with his bare hands,” he whispers so quietly Lance has to strain to hear him.

“Shiro.”  Keith’s voice, dark and unamused, breaks them from their embrace.  “Allura wants to talk to you.”

Shiro gives Lance one last sympathetic look, patting his knee once more before standing up and heading to the door.  Keith turns his glare from Lance to Shiro as they leave the room together.

“What was that all about?”  Lance hears him demand as the door closes behind them.  He almost laughs.

Shiro doesn’t hate him.  The relief Lance feels from that is startling in its strength.  The rest of the team might – Keith definitely does – but Shiro doesn’t.  And Kuro…Kuro is alive.  He’s alive and they’re going to fix him, because the entire team made it out and…

The entire team made it out.

For the first time since Kuro had snapped, Lance relaxes completely.  Kuro had paused for a heartbeat before striking the killing blow, long enough for Allura to stop him.  The team were knocked unconscious, a few bones broken, some scratches…but nothing worse.  Kuro had still been _Kuro_ even through it all.

Lance lets out a chuckle, laughing at nothing.  Kuro could be saved – _will_ be saved, dammit – and they can go back to watching movies together and pulling pranks on Keith and Shiro.  Everything will be fine, and as soon as Kuro gets released from the pod Lance is gonna be there to kiss him and smack him and tell him that he loves him before he loses the chance again.


End file.
